Extending a winning hand to cardlovers, the Madras high court has held that rummy is a game of skill, and playing it with or without stakes is just fine.
Justice S. Rajeswaran on Friday disposed of a petition by the Mahalakshmi Cultural Association to restrain the police from interfering with its activities, including playing 13-card games like rummy.
The judge said rummy was not entirely a game of chance like three-card games, and holding and discarding cards required considerable skill. Therefore, the members of the MCA and guests could not be faulted for playing it, he said, adding rummy with stakes would also not attract penal provisions.
Recording a submission by R.C. Paul Kanagaraj, counsel for the petitioner, that the association would conduct only legal and permissible activities and would play rummy alone, the judge said that if there was evidence of gambling in some other way, the police had the right to enter its premises, inspect it and take action as per the law.
The judge said the Supreme Court had held that rummy was mainly and predominantly a game of skill. Further, he said, it was common law that a person should not be convicted unless his or her conduct fell within the definition of a crime that he or she had been charged with.
The petitioner only plays rummy with stakes, which cannot be called gambling, the judge said. The police filed a criminal case against some MCA members and guests for gambling after a raid on August 10, 2011. It was for the petitioner and its members and/or guests to defend themselves in a manner known to the law, the judge said, and advised the police not to disturb the association frequently and disturb its peace.